Liverpool
6-30 a.m.
April 18th
Tony sat on the bed in Jaz’s room cleaning his Sig220. Jaz looked up as the regular click of bullets being loaded back into the magazine clip interrupted her reading of the early morning DIC e-mails.
“You expecting trouble?”
“Yup. You’re not?”
“Well the armed police should be able to deal with the rough stuff.”
“This guy killed two unarmed men. Shot them in the back of the head and then shot each through the heart without hesitating. One of his colleagues fought to the death, outnumbered at that. Another shot an unarmed dog handler and the dog. I bet you that there’s a wave of murders in their wake. If we’re the first to come in to contact I’m likely to shoot first and talk later.”
“That’s not what Jack wants. He wants them alive.”
“He’ll be lucky if last night is anything to go by.”
Jaz went back to her e-mails.
“First up is that the Peugeot was seen heading into Manchester, local police are looking for it. Second is that a listening team near the house of Sternway MI6 dirty tricks have a conversation which might implicate him, there’s an image of a fifth man, the one who killed the dog handler and finally we’ve got a helicopter ready for us at the airport to take us to Manchester Airport.”
Tony cocked the pistol, put it on safety and holstered it.
“You think he’ll go out by plane?”
“Well it’s as likely as any. He’d have to be disguised, but Spencer’s baggage had fake passports. He’ll try to get to some safe spot quickly, probably under the wings of the buyer’s contacts, so a plane seems likely.”
“He won’t be booked so we’ll have to monitor bookings, but we might as well have local DIC watching all CCTV covered exits.” Shadz joined them immaculate as ever.
“After Wally’s murder everyone is watching.” Jaz looked Shadz over. “I take it you’re ready to go?”
“Yes. Ready.”
“Alright let’s get to Manchester, the quicker the better. Cobb could already be on a flight.”
The phone by the bed rang and Tony answered.
“Sure. No tell them to wait, just surround the hotel and area. Only make a move if he wakes and checks out. We’ve got a helicopter waiting and we’ll be there in about half an hour. If you do have to move try to take him alive.” He hung up with a smile creasing his handsome face.
“They found the Peugeot at the Bewley’s Hotel. A man fitting Cobb’s description checked in last night. He hasn’t checked out. Jaz e-mail the local DIC for that area and ask them to check CCTV for the airport car park, the hotel and roads in and out throughout the night. Armed police are there and waiting for us so we’ve got to move and fast.”
They quickly packed the last of their equipment and took a taxi to the airport. The helicopter was fuelled and waiting and they were in the air by seven-thirty am.